12 A generation -- pure in their own eyes, But from their own filth not washed.
the Pharisee having stood by himself, thus prayed: God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this tax-gatherer;
And thou sayest, `Because I have been innocent, Surely turned back hath His anger from me?' Lo, I have been judged with thee, Because of thy saying, `I have not sinned.'
Who are saying, `Keep to thyself, come not nigh to me, For I have declared thee unholy.' These `are' a smoke in Mine anger, A fire burning all the day.
And I have sprinkled over you clean water, And ye have been clean; From all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, I do cleanse you.
and if in the light we may walk, as He is in the light -- we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son doth cleanse us from every sin; if we may say -- `we have not sin,' ourselves we lead astray, and the truth is not in us; if we may confess our sins, stedfast He is and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from every unrighteousness; if we may say -- `we have not sinned,' a liar we make Him, and His word is not in us.
(not by works that `are' in righteousness that we did but according to His kindness,) He did save us, through a bathing of regeneration, and a renewing of the Holy Spirit,
all things, indeed, `are' pure to the pure, and to the defiled and unstedfast `is' nothing pure, but of them defiled `are' even the mind and the conscience; God they profess to know, and in the works they deny `Him', being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work disapproved.
And certain of you were these! but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were declared righteous, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
and he said to them, `Ye are those declaring yourselves righteous before men, but God doth know your hearts; because that which among men is high, `is' abomination before God;
In that day there is a fountain opened To the house of David And to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, For sin and for impurity.
Wash from evil thy heart, O Jerusalem, That thou mayest be saved, Till when dost thou lodge in thy heart Thoughts of thy strength?
But though thou dost wash with nitre, And dost multiply to thyself soap, Marked is thine iniquity before Me, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. How sayest thou, `I have not been defiled, After the Baalim I have not gone?' See thy way in a valley, know what thou hast done, A swift dromedary winding her ways, A wild ass accustomed to a wilderness, In the desire of her soul she hath swallowed up wind, Her meeting -- who doth turn her back? None seeking her do weary themselves, In her month they find her.
Wash ye, make ye pure, Turn aside the evil of your doings, from before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil, learn to do good.
Every way of a man `is' right in his own eyes, And Jehovah is pondering hearts.
Thoroughly wash me from mine iniquity, And from my sin cleanse me,
For he made `it' smooth to himself in his eyes, To find his iniquity to be hated.
And Samuel cometh in unto Saul, and Saul saith to him, `Blessed `art' thou of Jehovah; I have performed the word of Jehovah.' And Samuel saith, `And what `is' the noise of this flock in mine ears -- and the noise of the herd which I am hearing?'
and Micah saith, `Now I have known that Jehovah doth good to me, for the Levite hath been to me for a priest.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 30
Commentary on Proverbs 30 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 30
This and the following chapter are an appendix to Solomon's proverbs; but they are both expressly called prophecies in the first verses of both, by which it appears that the penmen of them, whoever they were, were divinely inspired. This chapter was penned by one that bears the name of "Agur Ben Jakeh.' What tribe he was of, or when he lived, we are not told; what he wrote, being indited by the Holy Ghost, is here kept upon record. We have here,
Pro 30:1-6
Some make Agur to be not the name of this author, but his character; he was a collector (so it signifies), a gatherer, one that did not compose things himself, but collected the wise sayings and observations of others, made abstracts of the writings of others, which some think is the reason why he says (v. 3), "I have not learned wisdom myself, but have been a scribe, or amanuensis, to other wise and learned men.' Note, We must not bury our talent, though it be but one, but, as we have received the gift, so minister the same, if it be but to collect what others have written. But we rather suppose it to be his name, which, no doubt, was well known then, though not mentioned elsewhere in scripture. Ithiel and Ucal are mentioned, either,
Three things the prophet here aims at:-
Pro 30:7-9
After Agur's confession and creed, here follows his litany, where we may observe,
Pro 30:10-14
Here is,
Pro 30:15-17
He had spoken before of those that devoured the poor (v. 14), and had spoken of them last, as the worst of all the four generations there mentioned; now here he speaks of their insatiableness in doing this. The temper that puts them upon it is made up of cruelty and covetousness. Now those are two daughters of the horse-leech, its genuine offspring, that still cry, "Give, give, give more blood, give more money;' for the bloody are still blood-thirsty; being drunk with blood, they add thirst to their drunkenness, and will seek it yet again. Those also that love silver shall never be satisfied with silver. Thus, while from these two principles they are devouring the poor, they are continually uneasy to themselves, as David's enemies, Ps. 59:14, 15. Now, for the further illustration of this,
Pro 30:18-23
Here is,
Pro 30:24-28
Pro 30:29-33
Here is,